site.bta16th Anniversary of Lake Ohrid Tragedy Marked in Ohrid

Members of the Bulgarian diplomatic missions in Skopje and Bitola, North Macedonia, BTA Director General Kiril Valchev, Ohrid Deputy Mayor Ana Krstevska, officials of the city's municipal administration and representatives of the associations of the Bulgarian community in North Macedonia on Friday marked the 16th anniversary of the Lake Ohrid tragedy.

At 10:30 a.m. on September 5, 2009, the tourist boat Ilinden carrying 57 passengers capsized about 250 metres from the shore of Lake Ohrid and sank en route from the city of Ohrid to the St Naum Monastery. Fifteen Bulgarian tourists drowned in the incident. The boatmaster Sotir Fileski was sentenced to one year's imprisonment. Branko Baic, a representative of the classification company Germanischer Lloyd who certified the boat as lakeworthy, was convicted in his absence. Two weeks after the boat sank, it was recovered from the bottom of the lake and dragged over to the Studencista Canal.

Bulgaria's Consul General in Bitola Nikolay Dimitrov recalled the tragedy that occurred 16 years ago. "The group of Bulgarian tourists from the town of Pirdop and the villages of Anton, Ribaritsa, Mirkovo and Zlatitsa left on their trip, wishing to visit and tour Ohrid that is much loved in our country. Regrettably, 15 of these fellow Bulgarians never returned home. We must note that the tragedy would have been even greater if it were not for the locals. The timely help and the fast response of local residents and boat masters, of service persons from the nearby unit of North Macedonia's army, rescued 35 Bulgarians of the tourist group," the Consul General pointed out.

"The saved lives of these Bulgarians oblige us yet again to express gratitude to sailors Vasko Makoski and Dragan Naumovski of the crew of the ship Aleksandrija, ship master Petar Vasilev, ship master Vasko Janev of the ship Kristina, the Commander of the nearly army unit Rade Budzhakovski, the officer of the day Vlatko Dimanovski and their subordinate soldiers, who shared in the rescue of the Bulgarians from the sinking ship Ilinden. This memorial honours them, too. It should remind us of the local people's readiness to come to the rescue of people in distress. Because of the courage and empathy showed by those residents of Ohrid, we are duty bound to attend this observance every year and to bear witness to the fact that Bulgaria remembers their readiness to help," Dimitrov said.

Those present laid flowers at a monument to the victims of the tragedy standing on the shore of Lake Ohrid.